By contrast, in France, which with 500,000 Jews has the third largest Jewish population in the world (after Israel and the United States), attitudes towards Jews are relatively positive when compared with those in Spain. (Of course, it is entirely possible that Spaniards are just being more honest than other Europeans about their genuine feelings towards Jews, thereby skewing the statistics and masking the true extent of the problem on other parts of the continent. After all, there are good reasons why more than one quarter of French Jews want to leave France.)

So what explains the dramatic increase in Spanish anti-Semitism since 2005, especially considering that the only exposure most Spaniards have ever had to Jews is through television?

Pew, in a politically correct sleight-of-hand, says the blame lies with “those who place themselves near the right end of the political spectrum.” But most professional observers of contemporary Spanish politics lay the blame squarely with Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who took office in 2004, and since then has managed to drive Spanish-Israeli relations to their worst point since bilateral diplomatic ties were established in 1986.

Zapatero, who makes no secret of his postmodern dislike of Zionism, is well known in Spain for his anti-Israel and anti-Jewish outbursts. At a dinner party in the Moncloa Palace (the Spanish White House) in 2005, for example, Zapatero addressed his guests by launching into a tirade of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric that ended with the phrase: “It is understandable that someone might justify the Holocaust.”

Zapatero has also sought to restore Spain’s traditionally strong ties with the Arab world by ingratiating himself with Israel’s enemies. During the Second Lebanon War, for example, Zapatero participated in an anti-Israel rally where he wrapped himself in a Palestinian kaffiyeh (scarf) and gratuitously accused Israel of using “abusive force that does not protect innocent human beings.” Just for good measure, Zapatero then dispatched his foreign minister to Syria, a move the Israeli foreign ministry said proved that the Spanish government was “closer to Hezbollah terrorists than to the Israeli government.”

Zapatero, who refuses to visit Israel (even as the two countries commemorated 20 years of diplomatic ties in 2006), also refers to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a “cancer” that is metastasizing into all the other conflicts in the region. As a disciple of postmodern moral equivalency, Zapatero naturally believes the “cancer” is Israel, not Islamic terrorism.

As if that were not enough, Spanish anti-Semitism is also being stoked by the non-stop anti-Israel rhetoric of Spain’s leftwing intellectual and media elites, most of whom are enthusiastic sycophants of Zapatero and his pro-Arab, pro-Islam worldview. Indeed, Spanish radio, television and print media, much of which is directly or indirectly controlled by the Socialist government, is notoriously biased against Israel. As most Spaniards do not speak foreign languages, they have little or no access to alternative sources of information, which goes a long way toward explaining Spanish attitudes towards Jews, especially of the Israeli variety.

Add to this the Spanish media’s bizarre obsession with neo-conservatism, which in Spain has become a pejorative term denoting a conspiracy to promote Jewish domination of the world. Many ordinary Spaniards, who otherwise show little interest in foreign affairs, seem to have deep-seated opinions about those Jews Frum, Kristol, Pearle, Podhertz and Wolfowitz, et al.

Zapatero and his cabinet ministers are now playing the neocon card to explain to the Spanish public why the Spanish economy is in a freefall. Although analysts had warned for many years that the Spanish housing bubble was unsustainable, Zapatero said those fears were overblown. But now the bubble has burst and Spain’s unemployment rate is skyrocketing to the highest levels in Europe. Nearly three million Spaniards are now without work and some analysts expect that number to double by 2010 to reach a staggering 18 percent jobless rate. Spanish voters are looking for someone to blame.

Zapatero, in a classic display of hands-on economic crisis management, says the blame for Spain’s problems lies with “the neo-conservative model based on capitalism without borders nor limits nor ethics.” Translated into regular English, that’s postmodern Zapatero-speak for “the Jews are to blame.”

But just as Spaniards get smug about their perceived racial superiority, along comes a new study which implies that many Spanish anti-Semites actually have Jewish blood. An examination of the genetic signatures of the Spanish population shows that 20 percent of contemporary Spaniards have Jewish origins. As it turns out, far more Jews than previously thought did not comply with the order to leave Spain back in 1492 and simply converted to Catholicism instead.

Many of those conversos tried to blend in by adopting surnames that indicated trades or professions. One such Sephardic name is Zapatero, which means shoemaker.

Soeren Kern is Senior Analyst for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook.

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1.
Roger L Simon

I have lived in Spain (many years ago) and visited several times thereafter and, as a Jewish American, it always amazed me how Jewish so many people seemed. Sometimes I thought almost everyone was from a converso family, as your study indicates. But many… like the sleazy Zapatero… always seemed to be running from it. So it goes.

Legend has it that in 1492 as the last of the Jews were leaving, the Chief Rabbi laid a curse (maldicion) on the Spanish, _”que seran bruto por vida”; stupid for life.
Judging from their behavior the legend appears to have more than a bit of truth to it. 35 years ago the rest of Europe thought them to be nothing more than maids and laborers.

The Spanish have been genocidal Jew-hating “Nazis” since the widescale extermination of the Jews in 1390-91. Their edict of expulsion in 1492 was not revoked until — get this now — 1965. They were the last NATO nation to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

From Catholic/Monarchist/Francoist right to Communist Left, the Spaniards are united by one thing — their never-ending, genocidal hatred of Jews. It is eternal, irrational and irredeemable. It unites this Nazi country; they live for it.

Israel and the Jews must treat it like an irredentist state, just like Hamastan Gaza. No diplomatic relations, no trade, no travel. And Jews in America should do the same. Tell the Spanish National tourist board to take their advertisements for visiting Spain’s Jewish history and shove it up their Nazi as*es.

1) Spain was about the only place in Europe where a king (Alfonso X the Sage) told of himself as King of the Three Religions (Christian, Muslim, and Jew

2) That in the weeks before the crucial battle of Navas de Tolosa the Spaniards deprived themselves of reinforcement of nearly 50% of theior forcce and went to battle outnumbered nearly 2 to 1 because they protected their Jews against exactions from Northern Europe crusaders, forced them to live in tents outside cities with the result that the crusaders left in disgust. For the context, this was a battle that the C hristians couldn’t afford to lose both because it was not a mere slave-taking raid from Spanish Muslims but a jihad led by North-African Muslims aiming at wiping the Chritian kingdoms and because after the disaster of Alarcos they couldn’t afford the losses involved in a defeat. In afct Alarcos had depleted the numbers of trained soldiers they could field and half their army was composed of city militiamen of dubious value. In that context depriving themselves of the trained soldiers of the crusading force be it through philosemitism or for honoring their feudal obligations towrds the Jews in their cities was very noble bordering on foolishness. Aftermath: Even if the battle ended with a slaughter of Muslim forces it came very close to end with exactly the opposite result.

3) That both Ferdinand the Catholic and his grand Inquisitor Torquemada were at least a Jewish grandfather/grandmother

4) That people of Jewish ascendecy held high positions well after 1492 be it Diego Lainez cofounder of the Jesuits (and successor of Loyola) or General Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, aka the Gran Capitan.

5) That laws can fall into oblivion even if they are not formally abolished (hint: The 161x law banning tobacco in France was never abrogated…)

6) That Spanish diplomats in occupied Europe saved thousands of Jews during WWII with Franco’s government making only nominal attempts to hinder them instead of taking the drastic step of recalling them.

About the present situation in Spain, the left i s rabidly antisemitic on the disguise of concern for the “poor suffering palestinians” (they insult you when you wonder why they don’t exhibit similar concern about say the victims of Arab fascism in Sudan), right wing seems equally divided between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinan types (reada antisemites who don’t have the courage to tell it).

BTW, Mr Eric R you had me worried, I thought you were to propose the final solution of the Spanish problem.

The attitudes towards Jews in Spain is much more complex than the author would have us believe. The first question I would have is that it would be nice to know how many of the poll respondents were Muslims and were Muslim respondents out of proportion to their percentage of the general population. That in itself would skew the results.

In defense of the Spanish let us not forget that the Franco government did what it could to save many Sephardic Jews from the Nazis by issuing mass Spanish passports to them and allowing them to enter Spain. Franco also let Jews escaping from France use Spain as a transit point to flee to other countries. The total number of Jews saved by the Franco government was as high as 60,000. Let us also not forget that Franco frustrated Hitler to no end by not allowing Spain to be drawn into WWII. The only thing he did was to let a group of volunteers serve with the German army.

In conclusion the study mentions that the findings show that antisemitic attitudes are more prevalent amongst those who identify with either the political right or left with the least amount of antisemitism amongst the center. This is not surprising given the increasing rise in antisemitism in the political left all over the world in recent years.

Hello, I would just like to say that people are making an aweful lot of unfounded statements about both the current Spanish government and Francoist Spain. Franco was a Fascist. His government was in no way, NO WAY, better than Hitler or Mussonlini’s. He used forced labour camps and killed as many as 800,000 of his political opponents during his regime, often torturing them first. Secondly, this stuff with “actively seeking to help Jews to escape from Germany” and “not allowing Spain to be drawn into WWII.” The first quote is just not true. It was not Franco who saved them, it was Spanish anarchists and members of the resistance to his Fascist Dictatorship. The second quote, well, the reason he didn’t “allow Spain to be drawn in” was because Spain had to recover from 3 years of civil war during which the Nationalists and the Germans mercilessly bombed its own people and cities in order to destroy the revolutionary left. Also, I think very few people are gonna claim that the Israeli-Palestine conflict is a good thing. Yes, they might even go so far as to say that it is a “cancer,” not Israel, but the conflict which daily claims hundreds of lives.

You are an idiot and, at the very least a defender of rabid anti-Semites, if not an anti-Semite yourself.

The Spanish extermination of Jews in 1390-91 (estimated at from 50,000-100,000) was the largest since the Bar Kochba rebellion of 135 CE, and was not seen again until the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648 in the Ukraine.

For 100 years after that, thousands of Jews, forced to convert under threat of death, were executed in the inquisition.

Then in 1492, SPAIN EXPELLED ITS JEWS, MADE ITSELF JUDENREIN, AND HAS BASICALLY REMAINED JUDENREIN EVER SINCE. IT EVEN HUNTED DOWN JEWS IN ITS COLONIES AND BURNED THEM AT THE STAKE.

I don’t want to hear your revisionist, anti-Semitic crap defending these despicable excuse for a nation. It has no excuses.

There is a small problem with this article it is based on biased data.

People from formerly occupied countries have a strong reluctance to openly assert negative feelings against the Jews because antisemitism is associated with the Nazi occupation, Quislings, people turning Jews to Nazis in order to get their belongings and histories of cowardice and indifference in their own families. The same is true in Germany. But Spain was neutral and remained unoccupied. While its government didn’t wide open its borders to Jews ait didn’t turn them to the Nazis. That means that Spaniards have no special guilt feeling about the Shoah and thus the reluctance about looking antisemitic is much lower. Thus a Spaniard is a lot less likely to lie at the interviewer than a German or a citizen of the occupied countries and you have through other questions and recoups to estimate the lying factor (that is what statistcians specialized in opinion polls do for a living) in order to draw valid conclusions when you compare anti-Jewish numbers between Spain and other countries.

Oh dear, I will judge the Spanish on their recent acts not their historical ones, since Zaparato was elected they cut and ran from Iraq, before that their soldiers fought with honor, he is a pro-Arab, anti-Jew left wing scum bag that pollutes this world which each and every breath, like most European leaders (they are the stupid ones…)

I was aware of the Jews that fled through Spain as the people that my mother-in-laws parents gave santuary too in France at great risk to themselves fled via Spain.

Jews want to leave France because of the growing threat from Muslims in France, nothing really to do with the old French, though there are a few anti-semites such as Le Pen, the threat is from the New French or should I call them the New Europeans, you cannot just say that this is the French, its too damn simplistic.

And I think it was a Spanish writer who wrote that Europe killed the best of the people that added greatly to their civilisation and allowed in the worst of people who will destroy their civilisation.

I am a Brit and I regret that my people did not try more to help the Jews and while I feel guilt, my positive attitude to Jews is based on the fact that historically they have had a rough deal and yet survived as a people, I also respect that they fit in where they live and respect the laws of the land, they have their own customs, so what, that is true multi-culturalism, I cannot say the same about Muslims.

The problem for me is watching left-wing Jews committing suicide, its heart breaking…

1) I am 100% pro-Israel and
2) That I think that the people who attack Israel on the base of the sufferings of the poooor little Palestinians are just antisemitics in disguise, not ordinary ones but Nazi-like ones dreaming of a second Shoah. (Hint: There are at least twenty times more dead in Darfur so I don’t take that it is concern about the suffering who make those people don’t give a hoot about Sudanese blacks and care so much about people who are muuuuuuch better fed, are not being raped and enslaved, try to bomb maternities, consider a hero a guy who killed a 4 years old in cold blood and have openly told that their goal is not merely the destruction of Israel but the extermination of its inhabitants. It is this genocidal project who makes them so well loved).
3) Ditto for the people who tell: “Just because you criticize Israel doesn’t make you antrisemitic. (Right, until you remind that they tell nothing about Sudan and told nothing about Timor, Cyprus, the massacres of Hazara by the Taliban and so on.).

And now that I have established my pro-Israel and hater of anti-semitism credentials I pray you to use Mr JFM when you answer. JFM, alone is for people I would shake hands with and I don’t shake hands with racists.

Your own native country has severe problems with Jew-hatred of its own.

Of how it expelled Jews in 1290 and kept them out for 366 years.

Of how the blood libel started in Norwich in 1144. The blood libel that stays with us Jews to this day, and has caused the death of millions of Jews.

Of how the Brits fought tooth-and-nail to keep Shoah survivors out of Israel.

Of how they helped the Islamonazis fight the infant Israel state.

Of how they have a long history of being Arabophiles, going back well before T.E. Lawrence.

Of how (the holy) Churchill helped murder 300,000 Hungarian Jews in 1944 by not allowing them safe passage to Palestine.

Of how the British media, led by the BBC, al-Guardian and das Independent, have long been tools of Jew-haters, dedicated to vilifying Israel and laying the ground work for its destruction.

Of how the Brits on the Channel Islands, occupied by Nazi Germany, eagerly helped the Nazis find and deport the Jews of Jersey and Guernsey to their deaths. A fate that no doubt would have awaited the Jews of Britain had events turned out differently.

To Jews, and to non-Jews like you with a conscience, I have three words of advice — get out — NOW!

Spain grew wealthy and powerful in the 16th Century on gold looted from the New World only to go bankrupt three times 17th Century. Where was the investment in the middle class that might have made Spain a powerful manufacturing center like France, Britain, or Flanders? As the chronicler Bernaldez put it at the end of the 15th Century: “The Jews were all of them merchants, dealers, tax farmers; they were stewards of the nobility and skilled shearers, they were tailors, shoemakers, tanners, beltmakers, weavers, grocers, peddlers, silkmakers, smiths, goldsmiths, and other like professions.” The Jews were expelled and Spain became a punching bag for her more powerful European neighbors for the next 300 years. Only there were no longer any Jews around to blame for the problem.

How many cultures enjoy a scholarly tradition as old as rabbinical law? I would venture not many. Education leads to material prosperity which is one reason the Jews are hated. It’s envy pure and simple. Living amongst alien peoples also makes Jews easily identifiable as some sort of “other” and easily turned into scapegoats. I’m not sure if a gentile like myself can be a Zionist, but I am most certainly a Zionist supporter. And proud to say so.

I defend Spain because it wasn’t Nazi to begin with and that in fact if Franco had acceeded to Hitler’s demands in Hendaya Germany would have won the war (Hint: Look at the map and think about the effect on the Battle of the Atlantic of U-Boots based in North-West Spain).

And for today’s Spain because I happen to know a bit about it, about its non-jewish bloggers defending Israel’s right to exist and those of its MSM who have resisted the wave of antisemitism who is rolling on Europe.

Not to mention that my father was both Spanish and an admirer of Israel and the Jews. So your KKK-like racism touches me personally.

I don’t believe “anti-Semitism is on the rise”. \
I believe that what is happening, unfortunately, is that current events provide easy opportunities for those who have been anti-Semite all along to now act out their opinion.

In the case of the Palestinians, all of the opportunitistic anti-Semitism gives them good current “cover” for what THEY have doing for 60+ years: trying to destroy the nation of Israel.

I worked in Madrid in the 90′s. The Spanish don’t like Jews, it’s true. They also don’t like the French, Chinese, Africans, Americans, English, Gypsies and especially Turks. It goes on and on. The only people they seem to tolerate are Italians.

The French are as anti-Jew, if not more so, as the Spaniards. When I was in France people would say “x person, a Jew, then speak about them”. The Spaniards, who think this way are merely a bit more blunt about it.

“The Spanish don’t like Jews, it’s true. They also don’t like the French, Chinese, Africans, Americans, English, Gypsies and especially Turks. It goes on and on. The only people they seem to tolerate are Italians.”

Yeah, funny how that goes. I was in Greece for two weeks and they had that too. Especially against the Jews and the Turks. I guess tolerance runs head-first into centuries old prejudice.
Unfortunately it’s a slippery slope from not liking and hating people to massacring them….

The irony is that now that Israel has been in existence for 60 years, there shouldn’t be any Jews anywhere in the world except in Israel. The Lord commands them to return to their homeland, yet many remain scattered.

“The Lord commands them to return to their homeland, yet many remain scattered.”

I have immigrated to the west. Most of my life and teenage years I grew up here. So, for me to go back to the old country would be difficult. I mean; I would visit and see family and culture but it doesn’t feel like home to me.

Jews in the United States or Canada for example are not going to feel at home in Israel. I’m sure they have a cultural or religious attachment but that’s not really their home.

Queen Isabella, who signed the expulsion order in 1492 (in fact it was mostly her idea) was 6/16 parts Jewish (just under half). It seems that people with Jewish blood are the most enxious to prove to the world that they aren’t really “one of those Jews.”

Your own native country has severe problems with Jew-hatred of its own. – Yes I agree and certainly manifested in the left and the media.

Of how it expelled Jews in 1290 and kept them out for 366 years. – I agree, totally stupid.

Of how the blood libel started in Norwich in 1144. The blood libel that stays with us Jews to this day, and has caused the death of millions of Jews. – Again I will not deny that, yes ignorant people and religion.

Of how the Brits fought tooth-and-nail to keep Shoah survivors out of Israel. – That is something that I feel guilt for.

Of how they helped the Islamonazis fight the infant Israel state. – Sort of yes and no

Of how they have a long history of being Arabophiles, going back well before T.E. Lawrence. – Actually I think that the Arab world hates us for stopping their conquests in its tracks, if we had not been in India they would have taken the lot. We also rubbed their noses in their own backwardness. Some people yes, others saw Islam for what it was.

Of how (the holy) Churchill helped murder 300,000 Hungarian Jews in 1944 by not allowing them safe passage to Palestine. – He did not murder them, but he was guilty of not helping them, we could not afford the instability in our back areas I would think, but yes it was a bad decision. I think that we could have done more to try to save the Jews, that is my guilt as a Brit, however until 1943 we were pretty much up against it, only from 1944 did we really begin to prevail.

Of how the British media, led by the BBC, al-Guardian and das Independent, have long been tools of Jew-haters, dedicated to vilifying Israel and laying the ground work for its destruction. – I agree, I hate them perhaps more than you do.

Of how the Brits on the Channel Islands, occupied by Nazi Germany, eagerly helped the Nazis find and deport the Jews of Jersey and Guernsey to their deaths. A fate that no doubt would have awaited the Jews of Britain had events turned out differently. – Again some people when occupied fight and help those in need, while others work with the occupiers, people are people, some are noble and brave and others less so.

To Jews, and to non-Jews like you with a conscience, I have three words of advice — get out — NOW! – Europe is dying, perhaps it deserves it, I watch all these young anarchists and extreme left idiots and manipulated young people and often think that there is nothing left worth saving, actually I wish I had not had two children now. But I will stay, there is no where else to go.

However in all of this do not forget the Balfor declaration, understand that normal Brits in the main are supporting Israel, my father remembers working in a factory during the six days war and the people were cheering news of Israeli success, you will also see that in France but to a lessor degree, many of the attacks on Jews in France are deemed to be by the French, but its the New French, not the old French…

I understand your feelings, but in terms of Spain, a very small Jewish population now, a history like many European nations of persecution, but also more recently human rights etc., however suffering from the stupidity of their ruling class, especially accute in the case of Spain and the influx of people with religiously inspired Jewish hatred. What a mess, but I am aware of many people in Spain who feel like me and I will not paint all Spanish as being Jew haters and followers of Zaperato, git that he is.

For information, the guy who posted as EL CAUDILLO doesn’t live in Spain and I would bet 99 to 1 he is not Spanish. In Spanish exclamative and interrogative sentences are preceded respectively by inverted ! and ? signs. A Spaniard using a Spanish keyboard would have used them. This guy didn’t, so he is just a troll and a non Spanish one.

I wonder if anti-semitism from a racial point of view started in Spain with the “pureza de sangre” laws? Most anti-semitism up to that time was focused on Jews being Christ-killers and not accepting Christianity–a religious basis rather than a racial basis.

Although Franco was an anti-Communist, he was extremely culturally repessive of Spain’s minorities— even the Galegos. OK the Basques and Catalans fought for the other side. Maybe if Franco had given some autonomy (at least cultural) to the Basques etc. maybe there would have never been an ETA.

Not to mention his repression of free masonry…However, I was not aware, and have never heard about any untoward action against Galicians….. could have been part of Franco’s natural “galleguismo.”

Franco wanted to hold the center together. He wanted a unified Spanish state run from Madrid. Being a Gallegan, he was well aware of the natural centrifugal forces inherent in some of the outerlying spanish provinces. He felt that those forces, if not confronted, would destroy the Spain that he ardently loved.

I think el caudillo looked on autonomy as he looked on communism, free masonry, and islam, as a dagger pointed at the heart of Espana.

Maybe there was also the Franco fear that any attempts at mollifying one distinct nationality or language with some limited autonomy would spur others to demand autonomy as well, setting in motion irresistable forces that would ultimately undermine the Spanish State.

Even though the Basque and Catalans had not joined the Falange led resistance against the republic, I believe Franco’s attempt to bottle up their natural nationalistic aspirations was aimed at preserving the state rather than some form of punishment for past sins. Although I could be wrong about that.

JMHO

Franco would probably have understood the implications of Glasnost and Perestroika on the integrity of the USSR had he lived to see it.

Who cares, its a non story. The Jews can take care of themselves now, they have their own first world country and a great military to boot. My concern about Spain is if there are any real men left there. They recently have shown a tendency to vote for surrender. I wonder if they’ll do the same thing they did to the Jews with the Muslims that are invading their country today.

As a Jew and American I have to say we love Britain. You have to look at the big picture Churchill saved christendom from the Nazis due to his refusal to compromise. Thank god for him. The fact that his politics on Israel is not immaculate is incidental. To twist his and GB record to denegrate one of the great achievments of humanity is base.

and that makes churchill the most important statist of the past millennia.

he also acknowledge the extreme ignorance, cowardice and lack of capacities of the mohameddans.

a true genius

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.”
(Winston Churchill / 1874-1865)

Doug:
As a Jew and American I have to say we love Britain. You have to look at the big picture Churchill saved christendom from the Nazis due to his refusal to compromise. Thank god for him.

Churchill had little to do with the defeat of the Germans by the Russians. The only thing the Brits did (along with the Commonwealth and USA) was prevent the UK and Egypt from being taken. Then when the US and Canada were ready, (and free Poles) invade and hold much of Western Europe to block the Red Army from rolling to the Spanish Border. Churchill should be credited with giving the US and Stalin an assist.

Which makes the counterjoke the French tell to the “Be grateful to the Brits and Americans or you would all be speaking German” even more poignant. The French comeback is “No, without you, all our Soviet-sponsored commissars would have spoke French, just like their puppets in Poland and Hungary spoke their native languages. For the lack of commissars, we are grateful.”

**********************
I wonder if some of the new anti-Jewish feelings in Europe have anything to do with the Holocaust lawsuits.

For 50 years, the Europeans tried to move on – While their suffering and losses of lives and property were not as severe as the Jews, they were quite significant and terrible. Then after a half century, Euros were informed that their investments, their companies, even for some the homes they occupied were subject to legal machinations by people eager for “reparations money”. It opens old wounds.
In Spain, they now have “expulsion of the Jews” lawsuits filed seeking money from Spaniards after 500 years have passed.
Hard to be friends with anyone that sues you.

Well, the fact that many of us have Jewish ancestry is known (you only have to see “House” and check that the character having closer to an average Spanish apparence is Taub). It is also known how the Spanish Socialist party regained power through a terror attack very similar to an operation of the secret services (see Bologna massacre) behind which lies probably the Catalonian far right. An attack that was demagogically manipulated, using all the Spanish media in the hands of the oligarchy: it is not a surprise that they are manipulating again terror attacks and promoting antisemitism in order to get and advantage (blame the Spanish economic crisis on international actors.) That is normal in Spain, they regained power through a coup and they will do anything -anything- to avoid losing it again.

Regarding the question of the expulsion of the Jews, the Catholic kings acted against such disruptions of internal order in the same way the English and French have done before them. They were creating a State, and a State is defined by the monopoly of violence. They could not tolerate rioting, especially virulent since 1391, and they could not tolerate attacks against Jews, because, according to Feudal laws, Jews were the property of the King: each time this happened, the authority of the King was eroded.

The moriscos -Muslims said to be converted- were expelled in 1609, after one century trying to absorb them. Cryptojews -Jews said to be converted- could not move out of Spain until around 1590. They went then preferably to the Low Countries. However, they no longer lived segregated, as during the Middle Ages: they went in smaller numbers and fully integrated in a society that had evolved enough to admit them. (Segregation was one of the causes of rioting making them an easy target.)

Some authors estimated the Jew population converted during the century of persecutions (1391-1492) and the expulsion in 100,000 people, in a population of 6 million Spaniards.

Other 100,000 Jews moved out of Spain in 1492 (estimated figures).

The expulsion effectively terminated the ferocious popular Spanish antisemitism until modern times (the foundation of the State of Israel and the Arab wars). It can only be traced back in the use of some words.

Sefardic Jews can seek the Spanish citizenship since 1924, by a law approved by General Primo de Rivera. This allowed diplomat Sanz Briz to save 5,000 Jews from Budapest during the WWII. Some came from Greece (if the Nazi forces let them reach the Spanish embassy in Athens to apply for it). Unfortunately, for many Sefardic Jews this law was unknown (it was never publized).

General Franco knew what Sanz Briz was doing and let him do so (the same did not happen in Portugal). Franco’s stance against the Jews was the same the Catholic Church had (that they were religiously mistaken), until this changed in the Second Vatican Council in 1965. There was no “racial” issue against them. However, Franco’s support to Hitler and the necessity of Spain in those years to have good relations with the Arab world prevented foreign relations with Israel. Nevertheless, conservative Jews recognize Franco’s tasks in saving +50,000 Jews who fled from Nazi occupied territories through Spain during WWII.

The Spanish of today do not hate Jews. Most Spaniards have never met a Jew, and know little of Jews or Judaism.

However, the Spanish see themselves very much as underdogs within Western Europe. And as such they always identify with the underdog. Perceiving the Palestinians to be perpetual underdogs in a struggle with Israel, the Spaniards identify strongly with them and are very much anti-Israel. They see Israel as a political and military bully. But we should hesitate to make too quick or facile an equation of that with anti-semitism.

While Spain has a very dark history regarding Jews and the present day hatred its citizens have expressed for them is quite troubling this article in the Jerusalem Post is very much worthy of consideration.

Up until the Shoa, the largest destruction in the history of world Jewry happened on the Iberian Peninsular. The Inquisition and the Expulsion of Jews in Portugal and Spain left an indelible mark on Jews up until this very day. At the beginning of the 15th century, not a single Jew officially resided in Sepharad. Where once nearly 90% of world Jewry lived, not one openly Jewish soul remained.

While Spain was remembered very bitterly for many generations it became an unlikely haven for Jews escaping the Nazi destruction.

In June 1940, Spain adopted a pro-Axis non-belligerency stance (for example, he offered Spanish naval facilities to German ships). Adolf Hitler met Generalisimo Francisco Franco in Hendaye, France in October of that year to discuss the Spanish entry in the war joining the Axis.

Franco certainly did not share Hitler’s pathological hatred for Jews and his desire to rid Europe of them.

The remarkable story of Spain becoming a safe haven for Jews in Europe quickly spread to the surrounding countries. Between 20,000 and 35,000 Jews made the arduous trip across the Pyrenees to Spain where they remained relatively unharmed by the local authorities.

When the Nazis became aware of this situation, they contacted the Franco government to assist in deporting these Jews back to the European interior. Franco did little to nothing to accede to these requests.

The assistance provided by Spanish officials was even greater than turning a blind eye to Jews who illegally entered Spain, especially in lieu of the still existing Edict of Expulsion.

Many diplomats issued passports and exit visas to Jews under the very noses of the Nazis. Earlier this year, Eduardo Propper de Callejon, Helena Bonham Carter’s grandfather, was posthumously awarded the title “Righteous Among the Nations,” the highest honor granted to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Shoa.

Angel Sanz Briz, a Spanish diplomat in Budapest, managed to receive permission to supply travel documents to “Spanish” Jews. Sanz Briz wandered through the ghettos of Hungary looking for Sephardi Jews who he could claim were Spanish citizens and rescue them from under the noses of Adolph Eichmann.

“I restricted myself to accomplish the orders of my Government and of Gen. Franco” declared Sanz Briz 30 years ago.

There are those who feel that Franco assisted Jews during the Shoa because of financial benefit. The verdict of three historians, Antonio Marquina and Gloria Ospina, and Bernd Rother that have undertaken the most detailed research on the topic was that Franco was more objectionist than has been made out and much of his decision-making was purely to make a profit.

According to Jose Maria Doussinague, then general director for foreign policy and as such one of the highest-ranked officials in the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the regime could not leave Spanish Jews abroad at the mercy of Germany’s anti-semitic legislation because the Allies, in particular the US, would then become more hostile to the Spanish government and because the regime had to make sure that Spain, not Germany was to profit from the assets of Spanish Jews.

There is however another tantalizing opinion, or merely a rumor, which will probably never be proven one way or another. This is that Franco was a Marrano or Converso, and was thus the descendant of Jews forcibly converted to Christianity during the 14th and 15th centuries.

Some speculate that even Franco thought he was Jewish and many claim that Franco and Bahamonde (his mother’s maiden name) are both Jewish names. This theory is espoused by Franco biographer, Paul Preston.

Could it be that as a result of the then worst calamity to befall the Jewish people since the fall of the Second Temple made it possible for tens of thousands of Jews to survive the most recent calamity? This is one answer we will probably never receive but one which has an interesting irony in the annals of Jewish history and persecution

Lovely article, great blogging, fantastic comments. I am very happy to know none of you will be coming to Spain, trading with Spain or (of course) eating jamon. Good. You got it right. No need to refrase what we think of the jews…

So typical, to twist the facts, manipulate the ideas and come out with a totally new interpretation of what goes on in Spain…Nobody hates the jews here, but everybody thinks (well, a lot of people) that the ISRAELI GOVERNMENT is a genocidal and nazi organisation. It is not the same, you see. By the way, you can check my IP, is from Spain. But please don’t target me with trojans, track me with spiders or inform about me on tweeter. I am posting openly and freely.
By the way, I know a lot of jews, heck, even a few of those horrid self-hating jews that happen to criticise zionism too….

there are 62000 jews in spain,in murcia we are small ,only 600 more or less, but nationally almmost 62000.We are in all major cities all type incomes,not only bankers but military pilots, national police,unemployed,notary,layer,truck drivers,tv personality,housewife,football player.we are in local government.
in fact spain is the fastest growing jewish community in europe.When the EU was formed ,northern european jews could move anywhere in europe and vote work etc.Many came here to spain,weather jobs relaxed life..its like the miami of europe.Young jewish couples ith kids and old retired couples as well came to spain and particularly Murcia Polaris World Alto Real..We even opened a jeish school in murcia..So now in spain there are 17 jewish schools,5 fighter pilots in the airforce are jewish too. That says alot about spains government. They trust us to carry the defense.We get dirty like everyone else.
The president made comments that are political and not proisrael but in everyday life WE ARE SPANISH jews like he is SPANISH catholic..
welcome to spain.

“From Catholic/Monarchist/Francoist right to Communist Left, the Spaniards are united by one thing — their never-ending, genocidal hatred of Jews.”

Franco did not just not surrender a single Spanish Jew, he actively sought to help Jews to escape from Germany. It was one of the few decent things the cold old man did, but he did it. (Btw, Catholic Italy, too, did more to protect their Jews than any of the do-gooder peoples in Western Europe who delivered their Jews gladly free cattle wagon, Denmark being a notable example.)http://www.conservativetruth.org/archives/brucewalker/03-31-02.shtml

Thanks for all of the information on Spain and its relations with Israel and Jews. After watching so much tennis and cheering for Nadal, I’d like to think that he and his fellow Mallorcans are not virulent anti-semites.

Why should the Goyim always feel the need to be so submissive to the Jew? Its pathetic how far people go out of their way to prove they’re not “antisemitic” (political correctness, a Jewish invention too, see the Frankfurt School). Personally, I care about Christian, caucasian, European culture. That is it. The Jews have never payed repirations for creating Communism and continue to be a corrosive influence on Christian Civilisation. Its disgusting how they milk WWII in which over 70 million, mostly Christians died. As a Brit, I wish we never entered the war. Look how ungreatful they were? With the King David Hotel bombing and other attacks.

To Jews, and to non-Jews like you with a conscience, I have three words of advice — get out — NOW!

No, this time, its your turn to leave.
Maybe its time for the people like you to get out now.

In Spain, they now have “expulsion of the Jews” lawsuits filed seeking money from Spaniards after 500 years have passed.
Hard to be friends with anyone that sues you

Those who filed those lawsuits did so because there has never been any “moving on” for them. So why should Europeans be allowed to move on when others were denied the opportunity to do so? With Spain, its simple. Maybe after the long 500 years its time for the descendants of the beasts who killed, tortured and lastly ethnically cleansed Jews out of Spain ( after more than millenia of Jewish presence!!!) to apologise and welcome them back. This could actually be the beginning of the solution to the Middle Eastern conflict. Spain cannot and should not be allowed to get away with these sanctimonious “guilt” feelings and sympathy toward the Palestinians and not show any remorse, repentance and continue to live in denial to what was inflicted on its Jews.Its not history, not 500 years ago, its still an unresolved issue and will not go away. I think that both the descendants of the conversos and the ones who were kicked out should form a united front on this issue and show that they are still here and are not afraid of Spanish and their hatred.

The expulsion effectively terminated the ferocious popular Spanish antisemitism until modern times (the foundation of the State of Israel and the Arab wars). It can only be traced back in the use of some words.

So you are saying that the Jews were simply “guilty” of being unassimilable, and thus are defening the indefensible. Sephardic were and are entitled to the same right to live in Spain because it has been their homeland for more than millenia. The fact that the Spanish anti-Jewish racism has resurfaced as a result of the founding of Israel on the other side of the Mediterrannean, just shows how sick they are. Sure, they don’t like the fact that there is one million Sephardic Jews who live there, and therefore are going to be a permanent remider of Spain’s past bestialities towards them and their descendants.Their attempts to destroy the Sephardic culture failed, as so many Sephardic Jews in Israel have managed to preserve their heritage.